Alex Hales may have shut down the debate over the identity of Jos Buttler’s opening partner at the T20 World Cup with his 51-ball 84 against Australia on Sunday but among England’s players any doubt had ended 24 hours earlier when Hales was informed that the position was his to lose.
Freed of uncertainty, he proceeded to compile his highest T20 international score for 38 innings spanning eight and a half years as England won the opening game of a three-match series at Perth Stadium. But the 33-year-old admits that whatever had powered his innings it was not being relaxed.
